My Favorite Photos on Photography Life This Year

One of the coolest things about working at Photography Life is being around a bunch of people who are really passionate about their photography! And although gear, reviews, and just plain maintaining a small website sometimes takes more time than photography itself, I thought I’d look back at our 2025 articles and choose a couple of my favorite photos that I found particularly inspiring from some other members of our team!

Massimo Vignoli

You’ve probably seen some of Massimo’s beautiful photographs of animals and landscapes. So, which shots of Massimo’s did I choose? The first is a Svalbard landscape:

Quite a few things stood out to me about this cold vista. First, the patterns of ice feel very carefully chosen. I also find the contrast between the sky and the ice perfect, as well as the soft touch in the editing of the sky, with a great reflection on the smooth slab of thin ice in the center of the water.

Then, there are also quite a few interesting sub-elements that sink in after the first viewing, such as the blacker water at the bottom and how it contrasts with the more choppy water in the middle left edge. And there are some very nice and distinct sharp drifts of snow in the bottom right that matches some of the drifts on more distant slabs of ice. And I love the more distant and barely visible bergs that give a flowing continuation!

The second one of Massimo’s photos is this one of an Ibex:

When I see this photo, I feel a strong sense of coherence. It really looks to me like a classic artist’s drawing of an Ibex, in photo form. The color scheme is quite pleasing, and everything has its place. I also like how the darker rock formation on the left in the middle ground is strong but doesn’t overpower the Ibex, and the subtle patterns in the fog give just enough hint of a mountainous landscape. And then there’s just a bit of green that breaks the continuous brownish color and gives the Ibex just the right amount of emphasis.

Libor Vaicenbacher

I think Libor needs no introduction, as you’ve seen many of his creative bird photos here of a huge variety of species from hummingbirds to Antpittas. And what a coinidence, the first shot I chose from Libor is of the Giant Antpitta (Grallaria gigantea):

Aside from this photo being one of a very cool species, it just has a lot of “bird essence”, which is accentuated by the uncommon wide-angle perspective. That perspective also gives a good view of the bird’s environment, which feels very South American. This photo also has Libor’s characteristic treatment of greens, which in my opinion is the most difficult color to handle in bird photography.

Also, I like the overall sense of Antpitta curiosity – amplified by the bird’s perch leading into the camera and the very dynamic pose of the bird. If tropical birds needed one image to represent them, this would be a strong contender.

Another of Libor’s photos that caught my eye was this condor:

Sometimes, birds might be in their natural environment, but the environment doesn’t always feel like home for the bird. This waterfall, on the other hand, feels like what the condor would call home. Libor’s choice of composition perfectly balances the condor and the rock face, and the water is there to give the subject a bit of extra isolation.

The bird pose is also superbly well-captured, with the legs and feet of the condor complementing the angle of the wings and body to give a strong sense of a turn in flight, adding more dynamism to the shot. I also feel the framing to be very carefully chosen, with just enough room for the right wing near the top edge to add an extra sense of movement.

Spencer Cox

Finally, I am sure everyone knows Spencer and his diverse landsacpe photography, as he has been running Photography Life for a very long time now. And the first photo I chose was one from his recent trip to Chile:

The common theme in the photos so far is a feeling of cohesion, and this one really gives a unified sense. The first word that comes to mind with this photo is prehistoric, like a perfect representation of life before humanity. Although there is a glacier in these mountains, there is a distinct warm feeling that goes well with the overall peace in the scene.

The mountains also give me a sense of a journey ahead, with this little area being a quiet place to rest, and the overall vista feels almost miniature. The tones are well-handled but feel completely natural as well, almost as if it were a window into the area rather than a photo. And there are small elements that are fun to notice, such as the different colors of the trees and the particular shapes of the peaks, but which aren’t distracting or out of place.

Finally, another of Spencer’s landscapes that has stuck in my mind is this one of aspen trees:

The regular fine pattern of tree trunks is very strong, almost like the feathers of a bird, and yet unusual too. And within that pattern is a second layer, of the trees winding like a sleeping snake, giving a feeling of dormancy of life that is calm and yet full of energy.

Then there are also the different trees in the top left, which I thought was cool because they break the pattern just enough to draw the eye to give the photo an unusual sense of balance, as without them, the top left areas would seem a bit smooth, I think. Then after looking for a while, I see that the four corners also have an interesting harmony: bottom-left to top-right has bright splashes of trees, whereas top-left to bottom-right is a transition between random darker trees and a calmer descent of the “head of the snake”.

Conclusion

I hope you enjoyed taking a tour of some of my favorite photos that have appeared on Photography Life so far this year from some of my colleagues. I think I can speak for all of us and say that the reason we keep publishing these articles and interacting with our audience is because fundamentally, what keeps us going is that chance to go out again in the wild and press that shutter button.

Editor’s Note: Jason Polak’s Photos

Spencer here – I felt that this article would be incomplete without sharing a pair of Jason’s photos that inspired me this year! Even though Jason normally photographs birds, the first photo that came to mind for me is a unique photo of the moon he captured recently:

We’ve all seen, and perhaps taken, many photos of the moon. Even though it’s an interesting subject, it is also very difficult to capture in a unique way. I think Jason managed to do just that in this photo. Rather than a straightforward photo of the moon against the sky, or a more complicated photo with the moon as part of a wider landscape, he combined the two ideas and captured the moon with a gentle gradient of out-of-focus grass!

I had never seen a moon photo like it before, but it’s also a very “Jason” photo with softer colors, gentle contrast, and careful attention toward out-of-focus areas. It is almost like seeing a bird photo of the moon.

Here’s another photo of Jason’s that stood out to me this year:

I think this photo continues the theme of capturing something in a unique way. Here, the subject is a Southern Lapwing, a bird with distinct hair-like feathers on the back of its head. And it looks very different from most bird photos you may have seen.

This photo’s strengths come from breaking so many conventions. For example – the bird is looking away from the viewer, most of the frame is empty, and the subject is placed near the very bottom of the image. The unusual composition highlights the bird’s unique feathers and also conveys, in Jason’s words “the idea of goodbye since it was getting close to the time where I was leaving Brazil.”

Photography is largely about storytelling, and I think this photo stands out to me because of the story it tells.